Worries of the Past, Secrets of the Future
by Bubblewrap-Queen
Summary: One Danny Fenton has just had an accident with his parents’ ghost portal and now strange things are happening. Meanwhile, there’s a new kid at school who seems to know a little too much about all this… No OCs. AU. Time Travel. No pairings yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Description- One Danny Fenton has just had an accident with his parents' ghost portal and now strange things are happening. Meanwhile, there's a new kid at school who seems to know a little too much about all this… No OCs. AU. **

**Don't own anything.**

- August 30, 2007. Fourth period English class -

"We will be starting class today with a quiz to gage your current skill level. You have the rest of the class period to work on it."

Danny Fenton looked down at the test in front of him. A test on the first day of school?! This teacher, Lancer was the toughest one he'd ever had! He sighed and studied the first question.

_Diagram this sentence-_

_Fredrick and his little sister, Cassie, both enjoyed eating green jello._

Diagramming sentences?! Why did it have to be that?

His pencil fell off his desk and rolled a couple of feet away, so he stood up to retrieve it. Unfortunately, he also stepped on it, snapping the tip off, making it useless for anything but erasing. With a silent eye-roll, he headed to the pencil sharpener by the door. Lancer watched him the entire way, no doubt suspicious of cheating. The glare was a little unnerving. Danny stuck the pencil in the sharpener and winced at the loud, grinding sound it made. Over half the class looked up to see where the noise was coming from.

And suddenly there was loud laughter. Danny glanced down and saw to his horror that his pants had fallen. He felt his face turn red as he pulled them back up.

Quite apart from the obvious humiliation, he felt hugely annoyed, because that was the _third_ time that had happened that day! And it was only _one _of the strange things that had happened lately.

"Daniel Fenton!" The teacher yelled, "That is completely inappropriate for a learning environment! Detention after school today, room 202. And," he walked over to Danny's desk, picking up his blank test. "I will be taking this. Automatic F."

Danny returned to his desk.

"Nice going Fen_turd_, a large blonde boy a couple rows away hissed. Danny sank low in his seat.

- August 30, 2007. After school detention -

Danny stared at the clock over the door of the room where he was serving his detention. He'd been in this room for _hours_. Well, it _felt_ like hours. He couldn't actually be sure, because whoever taught in this room had covered the clock with a circle of green paper, on which was drawn a smiling face **(A/N: My reading teacher actually does this, it's so annoying!)**.

There were only two others in detention with Danny. Normally there were about five times as many, but it was the first day of school, and _most_ people are capable of staying out of trouble for at _least_ one day.

Suddenly the door opened and an out of breath boy rushed in. "Sor… sorry I was… late," he panted. The unfortunate teacher who had been given the task of 'detention supervisor' for the semester glared at him, and said, "just sit over there," before returning to her magazine.

The boy sat in the indicated seat (next to Danny), and grinned at him. Up close, Danny could see that there was something familiar about this boy… he just wasn't sure what.

The familiar looking kid glanced at the supervisor to make sure she was engrossed in her magazine, and then pulled a notebook out of his backpack, which was on the ground next to him. He flipped to a clean page, then wrote, _Hi, my name's James, who're you?_

Danny wrote _**Danny Fenton**_ on a spare sheet of paper.

_What're you in for?_

_**I'd **__**really**__** rather not say. What about you?**_

_I was late._

_**You got detention for being late to **__**one**__** class?**_

_Well, not exactly __one__ class._

_**How man classes?**_

_Five._

_**How did you manage that?**_

After an hour of that, Danny had learned that James had just moved to Amity Park from Virginia, he was a sophomore, and had a rather unusual interest- in ghosts.

_Do you have any hobbies?_

_**I like Video games, movies, that kind of thing. You know, normal stuff. How about you?**_

_Ghosts, actually._

_**You're kidding.**_

_No, why?_

_**My parents are 'ghost-hunters'. It's all kind of stupid, actually, considering they don't exist.**_

_You really think so?_

_**Duh.**_

Famous last words. At that moment, half the ceiling fell in as a meat-covered… thing crash-landed on top of it. The detention supervisor saw it and ran away, screaming, followed by the two juniors who had been asleep in the back of the room.

That left only Danny and James, one of whom was studying the ghost with interest, and one of whom was frozen in fear.

The thing roared and shot a coil of meat at the two teens, but before it could reach them, James pulled something out of his backpack and fired it at the meat monster. A blue light shot out of it, sucking up the thing.

And that was the last thing Danny saw before he passed out.

- August 30, Manson Mansion -

Danny opened his eyes to find himself on a bed in a completely unfamiliar room. It was dark and pretty gothic looking, with candles sitting on various surfaces, casting odd flickering shadows on the walls.

"I bet Sam would love this place," he muttered to himself, sitting up shakily.

"Well, my parents' room is right down the hall, so it's not that great," said a voice from the doorway.

Danny looked up to see Sam standing there.

"Oh, this is… your house?" he asked lamely.

She nodded.

"And this is your room?"

Another nod.

"So this is your… bed?"

A third nod.

Danny stood up quickly. "What am I doing here?" he asked, "The last thing I remember is that meat thing, at school…"

Sam shrugged. "This guy turned up about half an hour ago and said you'd passed out in a ghost attack. I didn't believe him, but he asked if you could stay here, and I couldn't say no…" She looked at him with concern, "Are you feeling okay now?"

Danny nodded. "Where is he?"

Sam shrugged, "I don't know. He left. Why?"

"Well, I wanted to ask him some stuff. Like how he knew that thing was a ghost. And what he used to get rid of it. That guy is really, really weird." He shrugged. "I guess I'll ask him at school tomorrow."

- August 31, 2007. 5th period lunch -

"So let me get this straight, you live in a _mansion_?"

"Yes, Tucker," Sam said, exasperated. "Now please, please, let it go."

"But that is so cool!" Tucker said, practically bouncing on his seat.

"Tucker, if you don't shut up _right_ now, I am going to hurl something large and heavy at your face, understand?"

Tucker stopped bouncing and nodded mutely.

"So, Danny, have you seen James yet?" Sam asked Danny, completely ignoring Tucker's attempts to edge as far away from her as he could.

"No," Danny said, "I've been looking for him all day, but I haven't seen- oh, there he is." He pointed to the line of people waiting to buy lunch from a bored looking lunch lady.

Tucker laughed, "Guess he doesn't know you managed to change the menu to ultra-recyclo vegetarian, Sam, or he'd have brought his lunch, like us _smart _people."

"Or maybe I just don't mind eating this stuff," said a voice from behind Tucker.

The trio looked up to see a smirking James standing behind Tucker. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked. "There's really no where else."

"How did you get over here?" Tucker asked.

"Um… walked?" said James. "I don't know about you, but that's how I usually get from one place to another."

"But you were just over there! And I didn't hear you come over!"

Danny glared at Tucker, and then pretended like he hadn't heard him. "Sure," he said, "Sit down. I wanted to ask you some stuff anyway."

"Ask away," said James, taking a bite of his lunch.

"How can you eat that… that… ew…?" Tucker asked, trailing off as though it was too disgusting to even discuss.

James shrugged. "My girlfriend is an ultra-recyclo vegetarian, so I just sort of got used to it."

"So, how did you know that thing yesterday was a ghost?" Danny asked, before Tucker could say anything else.

"I told, you, they interest me," said James.

"But what was that thing you used to suck the ghost up?"

"Thermos," said James, "It captures and contains ghosts until I can get them back into the ghost zone. Hey! That reminds me, I was going to ask you- your parents are ghost hunters, right? Do they have any way of accessing the ghost zone? Like, maybe a portal, or something?"

"Well, yea, they do have a portal, actually, but I'd stay away from it if I were you."

"Really? How come?"

"Well, my parents had a lot of trouble getting it to work, so I kind of… went in it and hit the on switch. And ever since then things have been a little weird."

"Like how weird?"

"Like that," said Sam, pointing at Danny's hand, which had vanished.

Danny sighed and screwed up his eyes, apparently concentrating exceedingly hard. His hand slowly reappeared.

"Weird," said James, studying Danny thoughtfully.

- September 1, 2007. 1 A.M.-

Danny was having a really strange dream.

In it, there was a strange vampire-like thing, floating in what seemed to be some kind of secret lab. Suddenly, a ghost flew in through the ceiling (It must have been a ghost, Danny reasoned, because there was no sign of a hole at the place it had touched the ceiling, and also it was floating).

The two faced each other for a moment, and then the ghost said, "How long did you think it would take me to find your new underground lab, Vlad? I mean, under the Green Bay Packers' football stadium? I think that being a space-nomad must have affected your brain."

'Vlad' grinned in a creepy way. "You really are stupid, aren't you? I _expected _you to find me. Actually, I've been waiting for you!"

The ghost's face, which had previously shown a confident expression, now changed to one of caution. "Why?"

"Well, now that you've ruined my life by revealing your alter-ego and saving the world, I thought it was time for a little bit of pay-back." He picked up a blue staff from a table near him, and the ghost's eyes widened.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"I got it from Walker in exchange for helping him capture a dangerous fugitive," Vlad said.

"Clockwork is _not_ dangerous!" The ghost said, its face suddenly looking a lot angrier.

"Of course he is," spat Vlad. "Always _meddling_, that infernal creature. And also," he gestured to a thermos sitting in a dark corner of the lab, "Imprisoning spirits. Walker doesn't take kindly to others encroaching on his job, you see."

"You're not planning to let… let him out, are you?" The ghost said, turning pale- well, pale-_er_. As a ghost, its face was plenty pale already.

"Of course not," Vlad scoffed, "I've read your ghost files-"

"How did you get into my computer?!" The ghost asked, seemingly distracted.

The ghost raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't exactly that hard to guess. I mean, 'Open sesame?'"

"I should probably change that," the ghost muttered.

"Anyway," Vlad continued, "I read your ghost files, and even though his powers would make it very simple to conquer the world, I realize that he would probably simply kill me if once he was done with me." Danny thought he caught a hint of fear in Vlad's face, even as the ghost exhaled in relief. "But, back to my staff."

"Clockwork's staff, you mean," The ghost said.

"No, it _used_ to be Clockwork's staff, but now it is _my_ staff," Vlad said. "And I've made some improvements as well. For example, you no longer need a medallion to remain in the past."

He lifted the staff, and a crackling blue light began to form at the top. "So," he said, I'll be seeing you!" The blue light expanded, "Or, more accurately, I won't!"

There was a flash of blinding blue light, and the dream ended.

**Okay, please tell me if you like this story! I really have no idea where it came from, considering it started out as a story about Danny going into a coma, but then I just had this idea, and I was just like 'OMG, I have to do this! So, I hope you enjoyed chapter one and I'll try to get chapter two up as soon as possible. This is going to follow the series pretty closely, but not exactly. I had loads of fun writing the dream, so expect some more stuff like that in future chapters!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Description- One Danny Fenton has just had an accident with his parents' ghost portal and now strange things are happening. Meanwhile, there's a new kid at school who seems to know a little too much about all this… No OCs. AU. **

**Don't own anything.**

**And, um, I'm guessing that everyone's figured this out already, but I'm not sure if I made it quite clear enough, yes, James **_**is**_** future Danny, from about a month after PP. **

**Also, sorry for the ridicuously** **long wait, fanfiction was giving me grief and wouldn't let me upload until just today.**

- September 1, 2007. 1 A.M. -

Danny woke up, freezing cold. He got out of bed with the intention of looking for an extra blanket (His mom kept some in the hall closet), and happened to glance out the window. He stopped.

He could see a giant flying thing that looked like it was made of metal. It was fighting something Danny couldn't see, because it was moving too fast, but whatever it was seemed to be flying, and putting up a pretty good fight.

Then the metal thing fired some kind of rocket at whatever it was fighting, which hit its opponent, forcing it closer to Danny. It floated there for a moment, something green dripping from a wound in his side, before flying off again.

But that was all Danny needed to recognize it, as the ghost from his dream.

The fight lasted five minutes, before the ghost hit the metal thing on one of its wings, so it flew out of control, spiraling off into the night.

The ghost, now clutching its side in pain, was about to fly off, when his face suddenly lost any of the color it had previously held, and he fell.

Danny watched as he landed on the pavement below Fenton works. He now faced a decision- Weather or not to help the ghost. His parents wouldn't, they had always taught him that ghosts deserved to die. Or… whatever came next for ghosts. And even if he did help the ghost, it would probably just attack him later.

Danny probably would have left him there to do… whatever ghosts do instead of dying. But then he caught sight of something on the ground next to the ghost. It was a thermos, exactly like the one James had given him to empty into the portal. It strongly resembled his parent's Fenton Thermos, except it was purple, and slightly larger. Also, it worked.

Chances were that the ghost had just stolen it from James after Danny returned it. But, if there was even the slightest chance that they were working together, Danny had to help the ghost. James had saved his life, after all.

He crept out of his room and down the hall. The stairs creaked as he hurried down them, seeming impossibly loud in the night silence.

Leaving the house, however, proved to be a problem. His parents were experimenting with a new genetic lock, and were testing it on the front door.

Unfortunately, Danny soon discovered that there was a rather large problem with said lock- while the light had switched to green, meaning the door _should_ have unlocked, it hadn't.

Danny leaned against the door thinking hard. If only he could simply walk _through_ the door! Then he-

Suddenly he was falling backwards. He flailed his arms wildly, trying to regain his balance, but still managed to fall painfully on his rear end… outside.

"More weird things," he muttered, standing up and walking back to the door. He pressed a hand to it. Completely solid. Strange.

A sudden moan reminded him why he was outside at 1:30 in the morning.

The ghost was almost unconscious, and more of the green stuff was leaking out of its side. Danny cautiously moved next to it, and crouched a foot or two away. The ghost moaned again, and its eyes closed.

Then, before Danny's amazed eyes, a blue ring formed around the ghost's waist. It split in two, one going up and one down.

Danny scrambled backwards, staring at the unmoving figure before him with shocked eyes. "No way…" he managed to say.

- September 1, 2007. Fenton Residence –

"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"No!" Danny said, "I have a ghost in my house, and that ghost also happens to go to our school! That guy is weird! I mean, I still can't figure out who he reminds me of!"

"You know, now that you mention it, he does look kind of familiar," Tucker said thoughtfully.

The conversation might have continued, except that only a moment later, Sam cried, "Look, he's waking up!"

"Good," Danny said, "Now maybe we can get some answers."

Danny had taken James back inside the house (The genetic lock on the _outside_ worked), and dragged him up to the guest room. It hadn't been too hard, since James was surprisingly light. _'It's probably because he's a ghost,' _Danny thought.

James opened his eyes, and sat up. He seemed a little shaky, but otherwise perfectly fine. Although the sheets of the bed were stained red, as were his clothes, all the damage the metal thing had inflicted seemed to have healed over.

Danny opened his mouth to say something, probably something along the lines of 'What are you?' but before he could, James said, "I guess you're probably wondering what exactly happened this morning."

"Uh… yea, kind of…" Danny said.

"Well… This is kind of hard to explain… but I'm half ghost."

There was about ten seconds of ringing silence, and then Danny, Sam, and Tucker started laughing.

"But humans can't have ghost powers!" Danny said at last, once he'd calmed down a little.

James shrugged, and said, "Say what you want, but that won't erase the fact that there are two half-ghosts in this room."

"Two?" Danny asked, confused.

"Yes. I'm one, of course, and _you_ are the other one."

"Okay, now I _know_ you're making things up," Danny said. Nonetheless, there was a faint note of worry in his voice.

"I'm not," said James, "I noticed in that detention we had together. You kept dropping things."

"So?" Sam asked, "He always does that. He's not very coordinated."

"But it wasn't just being clumsy. It's called intangibility, and it's a basic ghost power."

"Show me," said Danny.

James' hand suddenly turned translucent. He then moved it _right through_ the lamp on the table next to the bed.

"And you're saying that I can do that too?" Danny said skeptically.

James raised an eyebrow and pointed at Danny's feet… or more accurately legs, as he was falling through the floor.

Sam, Tucker and James helped him back up and Danny said, "Okay, _maybe_ I believe you…. But that doesn't explain how I ended up like this."

"I think you said you had an accident in your parents' ghost portal?"

- September 1, 2007. Fenton Work's lab –

"So, you think that this would be able to give someone ghost powers?" Sam asked.

James nodded. "Yes."

"Yes. I am a ghost. Fear me." Said a robotic voice from somewhere on a shelf.

"What is-" Sam started.

"My parents' latest invention," Danny said, rolling his eyes, "The ghost gabber."

"Right, then," Sam said, choosing wisely not to inquire further.

"And you're sure about that?" Tucker asked.

"Yes," James said. "I am _absolutely_ sure about that."

"…Sure about that. Fear me." Said the ghost gabber.

Just then there was a huge crashing sound, and something huge and metal crashed through the ceiling. He landed, and Danny recognized the metal thing from last night (Who James had explained was a ghost hunter called Skulker.)

He appeared to have fixed his armor somehow, and was now glaring at James with a distinctly evil looking expression. James shifted to ghost form and faced the ghost. Skulker fired a net thing at James, but he ducked, and it soared right over his head. Unfortunately, as he was standing up he tripped. Skulker took advantage of this and kicked him in the head.

James groaned and fell unconscious. He was now completely defenseless.

And that was when Danny realized that he had to do something. He had ghost powers too, right? But how could he get them to work…

He closed his eyes and concentrated on what he thought it must feel like to be a ghost. Suddenly he got a lot colder, and he heard a gasp from Sam. Somehow, he knew it had worked.

He flew straight at Skulker, intending to distract him, but the ghost heard him, and turned around, aiming several big guns at him. Danny tried to halt in mid-air and fell to the floor. Skulker put one heavy foot on top of him.

"Hey, get away from him!" Tucker yelled, kicking the ghost. This, of course, was a very stupid thing to do, especially since Skulker was made of metal, and couldn't even feel him anyway. Skulker pushed Tucker out of the way, and turned back to Danny, guns at the ready…

He suddenly paused, looking down at Tucker's PDA which had fallen to the floor when he pushed its owner.

"This technology… so sleek, so… shiny!"

"…Shiny. Fear me." Said the ghost gabber.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tucker yelled as Skulker picked up his PDA and attached it to his armor, before flying away.

-September 2, 2007. Amity Park Zoo –

"Sam, next time we have to do a report, you are _not_ choosing the subject," Danny said angrily to Sam. "We've been staring at this gorilla for _hours _now!"

"Blame Tucker, not me," Sam said, not taking her eyes of the purple backed gorilla. "He's the stupid time manager who forgot we had a test Friday."

"Sorry!" Tucker said apologetically. "That teacher is nuts! I mean, who gives _two_ tests on the first week of school?!"

"You're lucky he only gave you two, I heard there's a teacher who does some math class for seniors and gave three."

James, who was already recovered from the fight with Skulker, had just phased through the wall behind the trio.

"How did he manage that? We only had two days of school last week!"

James shrugged. "Anyway, I was just passing through and thought I'd stop by to see how your report's coming."

"Highly interesting," said Danny, then under his breath so Sam couldn't hear him, added, "And, by 'highly interesting', I mean dull with a capital 'D'."

James grinned. "Well, if it's _that_ bad, you could always practice going ghost."

Danny shook his head. "I already told you. I don't _want_ to use these stupid ghost powers!"

"Not even to protect your town?" James asked, "Now that your parents' portal works, ghosts will start coming through- a lot of ghosts. Dangerous ghosts. Ghosts who would have no hesitation whatsoever about hurting people who get in their way."

"How do you know?" Danny asked.

"Because I've been trying to keep up with them ever since I got here! I'm fighting two or three ghosts a day, and believe me; it's only going to get worse once more ghosts hear about the portal."

Danny contemplated this for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine." He raised his arms over his head and said, "I'm… going to become ghostly!"

"Okay, _that's_ just lame," Sam said, momentarily distracted from the gorilla.

Danny's ghost form was not entirely impressive… okay, it looked downright comical. Like James, he had white hair and green eyes, but he had been wearing his street clothes when he went into the portal, so he looked exactly the same as when he was human, but the colors were inverted. His shirt was black with a green oval in the middle, and his blue jeans had turned a disgusting shade of orange.

"Man, your pants make me want to puke," Tucker said, laughing.

Danny glared at him, and Tucker wisely shut up.

Suddenly, Tucker's PDA went off, "We should get to the library to check out that book on gorillas before it closes."

"I'll see you later then," James said.

Danny tried to switch back from ghost to human, and as always, found it difficult. "Why does this always have to be so hard?" He asked in frustration.

"Well, you could always kiss Sam," James suggested.

"You're joking, right?" Danny said.

"No, I'm completely serious. There are only three ways of changing from ghost to human- just on purpose, like I normally do, passing out or…"

"Um…" luckily for the embarrassed teen, it was at that moment that the two rings formed around his waist. "Let's go then!"

- September 2, 2007. Amity Park Library -

"Ghost!" Shrill screams echoed from every corner of the library as Skulker phased in through the ceiling. He started firing off random blasts at anything that moved, until a beeping sound came out of his armor, and he read off 'Go to news-stand and purchase magazine with article about purple-backed gorilla'? Who programmed this thing anyway?!"

"What on Earth was that about?" Tucker asked in confusion. "It's like he's running on a schedule or something…"

Suddenly there was another beeping noise and Tucker read from his back-up PDA (Skulker of course had the one he used most frequently), "Go to news-stand and purchase magazine with article about purple-backed gorilla."

"More like he's running on _your_ schedule, Tucker," Danny joked.

Suddenly Sam gasped, "I bet he is! Remember, he's got your PDA as part of his armor now!"

"Well, that could get pretty annoying, if he _has_ to go everywhere on your schedule," Danny said to Tucker.

"Unless you lay a trap for him," Sam added.

"Like what?" Tucker said.

"I think I have an idea," Sam said, running off, Danny and Tucker following close behind.

- September 2, 2007. Amity Park Zoo –

Skulker was waiting quietly on a tree branch near the purple backed gorilla cage. Waiting, waiting, for his prey…This was the hunt. This was what he did. This was the meaning of after-life.

THIS WAS BORING!

Unable to take the monotony for a moment longer, the ghost flew down to the gorilla's cage. "You _stupid_ animal!" He yelled, "You were _supposed_ to be the bait!"

Just then he felt something connect with his metal head, and saw a flash of orange, before it was knocked right off his shoulders.

Danny picked up the little green thing that had been encased in Skulker's armor. He pressed a button on his borrowed thermos, and Skulker was sucked into the purple contraption.

"That was easy," Tucker said cheerfully.

"But the report is due _tomorrow_! We've done hardly any research, and now we're going to _flunk_!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you," Danny said, and gestured to the gorilla.

"What?" Tucker said, clueless.

"OH MY GOD!" Sam screeched.

- September 3, 2007. 1 A.M. –

Danny was dreaming again. This time, he was in a place he recognized, even though he'd only been there once before. Sam's bedroom. It was empty, but he could hear footsteps in the hall, rapidly approaching. Sure enough, a minute later, Sam burst in, closely followed by Tucker.

They looked a little weird. Older, maybe. Definitely taller. While he knew that Sam and himself were less than an inch apart in height, he know had to tilt his head up a bit to see her face.

"I can't believe he'd just leave without telling us!" Sam said, sitting down on a chair in front of her desk.

"Relax; I'm sure he's fine." Tucker said. "He's gone missing before, after all. Remember that time Vlad tried to clone him?"

'_Vlad? He was that guy from the other dream! Who was he trying to clone?' _Danny thought, confused.

"That's it!" Sam suddenly yelled.

"What's it?" Tucker asked.

"Vlad probably kidnapped him!"

"That doesn't help much. He could be anywhere in the world! And wherever he is, he's probably in hiding, especially now the world knows that Vlad Masters and Vlad Plasmius are the same person."

"Well, then, we'll just have to find him," Sam said, standing up. It was at this moment that Danny tripped over something on the floor. Tucker and Sam, who had been completely ignorant of his presence until this point, suddenly looked straight at him.

"Hey-" Sam started, but it was then that Danny woke up.

**I bet nobody saw THAT coming! Or, maybe you did… Anyway, I figured that was a good place to end it. Good for me, anyway. Not so great for you. The good news is I've already started chapter three!**

**Also, does anyone think the story is moving too fast? I think it is, but I'd like to hear from some reviewers.**


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